


it's better to fall asleep

by astral-klance (killjoycatlady)



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: ? I guess, College, Comfort, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, M/M, i just need iwaizumi to be comforted once in a while ok, like this is almost pure fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-14
Updated: 2017-05-14
Packaged: 2018-10-29 01:33:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,210
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10843734
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/killjoycatlady/pseuds/astral-klance
Summary: Iwaizumi is a med student and Oikawa worries for his best friend, just a bit.





	it's better to fall asleep

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this when I was supposed to be studying for IGCSEs and AP. Typical.
> 
>  
> 
> This stupid piece of fluff is dedicated to every med school student out there. Keep up the good work.

The coffee had gone lukewarm. It tasted more like the cheap bean-powder than something Iwaizumi actually wanted to drink, but he forced himself to take another sip anyways.

 

Iwaizumi huffed out a sigh. His toes had long since gotten cold in the low temperature of the apartment (Oikawa had no heat tolerance), and his back ached from sitting at one spot for way too long. He turned to the next page of his textbook, trying to pick up from where the paragraph was cut off, but he felt like his prefrontal cortex was short-circuiting. He read the sentence and absorbed nothing. Then again. And again. 

 

He groaned and let his head fall back. The bright light from the ceiling fan made him squint, but Iwaizumi felt too lethargic to try and lift himself up. 

 

Iwaizumi hated finals season. Admittedly, that was something that every college student in the world could relate to, but that hatred was something that was uniquely passionate for Iwaizumi, as a medical student. Sure, he loved the topics he studied, and aspired to be a sports physician in the distant future. It didn't stop him from passionately cursing every course he took as he skimmed through his thick bundles of notes. 

 

This year, his courses were especially hard. He had passed all his most general classes in the last two years, and every subject on his schedule was now increasingly related to the job he was hoping to pursue. It meant that now, everything he studies would be incredibly detailed, and the slightest slip up would reflect horribly on his part.

 

He closed the textbook with more force than was required and snatched up a notebook full of his own neat scrawl in it's place. He opened it to where a small paperclip was placed as a bookmark and tried to read the text. 

 

If the words blurred and his eyes burned as he scanned the bullet points, it wasn't his fault. Blame multiple finals in such a short period of time and the realization that if he didn't study as much as he could in the next two weeks, he would fail. 

 

The thought was bitter on his tongue. If Oikawa wasn't a genius, then Iwaizumi was average, at best. He was smart enough to get into a good university with his grades, smart enough to join the university's medical program, but he needed to put maximum effort into all the work he did. He wished that he was more like that dark-haired girl in his Disease and Infections class, or maybe that science wizard, Kuroo Tetsurou, from his first-year Organic Chemistry class.

 

He hated late night studying, because it was so easy to lose focus and go down that path of  _what if I fail, what am I going to do, I'm not good enough to deal with this..._

 

He knew that he didn't have the security of being so natural at medicine that he knew he would pass no matter what. If his eyes stung, not entirely out of exhaustion, then he ignored it. 

 

Iwaizumi took a deep breath. His limbs felt like they were full of tar, aching and weighing him down. It was only to be expected, after getting less than ten hours of sleep in the last three days. Iwaizumi was a medical student. He was perfectly aware that it wasn't healthy to stay up when he had a class at 8 A.M tomorrow, but did he have a choice?

 

_God, I'm starting to sound like Oikawa._

 

He read a paragraph on T-helper cells at a rate of about a word per minute. His pineal gland was screaming at him to close his eyes, but he had to persist.

 

_I have to study. Concentrate. I have to study. Concentrate._

 

The chant echoed in his mind, as he stopped being able to process the overload of compressed information about the body's immune responses. His eyelids seemed to be made of lead- _lead can hinder the development of the brain and nervous system of young children, and can cause long term damage to the health of adults-_ and warmth was swamping up inside his chest...

 

°•°

 

"How's the household?" Makki's voice, tinny from the speakers of Oikawa's computer, rang with his usual underlying sarcasm. His pixelated face and torso were perched up against the back of his dorm bed. "And, when are we going to be invited to said household again? Mattsun and I finished our finals, so we have time."

 

"We still have exams," Oikawa grumbled without much anger. "I'll ask Iwa-chan if he has time for you guys to stop by this weekend."

 

"Text me his answer and a date and time," Hanamaki replied, grinning.

 

"Speaking of," Matsukawa said from the edge of the frame (they were both too large to fit into the scope of the camera). "How's Iwaizumi? Wait, can he come talk right now?"

 

"When do his finals end?" Hanamaki piped up, "What a poor, poor, soul, a med student." 

 

Oikawa scowled to himself. Iwa-chan's major was a huge decision for him, because he would be studying for much longer than the rest of them. Oikawa knew what a challenge he'd taken on- and frankly, though he would never admit it so Iwa-chan's face, he was proud of him for making that decision. Oikawa knew that Iwa-chan would be great at his aspired job (though Oikawa had a hard time imagining blunt, short-tempered Iwa-chan becoming a caring doctor) and had full faith that he would succeed.

 

"Iwaizumi's fine. He's at the library," Oikawa said. Maybe the sourness in his tone was a little too noticeable, or maybe after about seven years of friendship, they had learnt to read him pretty well, but both their eyebrows (Oikawa's could only see half of Mattsun's face) shot up.

 

"Ah!" Matsukawa grinned. "Trouble in paradise? What's wrong?"

 

Oikawa sighed, ignoring their blatant references to Oikawa and Iwaizumi's 'relationship'- something he had grown used to after second-year of high school- and explained, "He's just been working himself too hard lately."

 

Hanamaki hummed with acknowledgement. "Sounds like a certain setter we know." He gave Oikawa a cheeky look, and Mattsun snorted with laughter. Sonetimes Oikawa cursed himself for telling them anything.

 

"Fuck off," Oikawa muttered, cheeks warming, "That was _ages_ ago." 

 

"And you haven't, uh, made any stupid decisions about your body's ability to work, since?" Matsukawa raised the eyebrow in the frame doubtfully, and smirked at Oikawa's silence. "I thought so."

 

"We were _talking_ about Iwa-chan," Oikawa said loudly.

 

"Ah, of course." Hanamaki waved his hand airily. "Sincerest apologies. Don't talk about anything else, Mattsun, you're being rude."

 

Again, Oikawa ignored Makki's sarcasm. "He's being studying too much."

 

Matsukawa frowned. "He's a university student, Oikawa, isn't it expected? I mean, do you know how much I was studying for _my_ tests? Being a law student sucks." 

 

"I _know_ ," Oikawa groaned. He was well aware that Iwa-chan got a ridiculous amount of work, and his courses were very specific and important, and he tried to understand Iwa-chan's situation, he really did. "But it can't be healthy to stay up until four in the morning every night, can it? He can barely even concentrate with that little sleep!"

 

"Drag him to bed," Hanamaki suggested cheerfully. 

 

"Don't do that," Matsukawa said dryly.

 

"I'm being serious," Hanamaki said, his smile sharpening at the edges. "I literally dragged _Mattsun_ here back to bed about three times to stop him from pulling all-nighters. Sometimes, force is necessary." He gave Mattsun a hard look, which made the latter look apologetic, at least.

 

"While I can be quite persuasive," Oikawa sniffed, making Makki and Mattsun groan. "If I tried to drag Iwa-chan to bed, he would deck me."

 

"Good point." It was Makki's turn to frown thoughtfully. 

 

"Do you want to know how I found him, this morning?" Oikawa asked, voice rising dramatically. "He fell asleep on his chair, with his notebook on his lap, at such a bad angle, I'm surprised his neck didn't snap in half. He could get some spinal problems like that!"

 

"Is that possible?" Matsukawa asked.

 

"I don't _know_ , I'm not the med student," Oikawa huffed. 

 

 "Poor Iwaizumi," Hanamaki sighed. "Has to deal with university and you."

 

"Excuse me," OIkawa said, affronted.

 

"You are excused," Matsukawa grinned, "Okay, we have to go shopping, can you imagine how quickly we run out of food? Makki, you have to stop eatimg so-"

 

He was cut off, laughing, as Makki smacked him with a nearby pillow, and then straightened up to the camera. "Bye."

 

"Do you guys go shopping together?" Oikawa  asked, disgusted. "It's been three years since you started rooming with each other and I didn't think you could get more domestic." 

 

Makki just beamed. "Bye. Say hi to Iwaizumi for us."

 

"Bye," Oikawa said a bit sullenly. "Have fun shopping."

 

"We will." Matsukawa wiggled his eyebrows, and the video call ended before Oikawa could ask what that was supposed to imply.

 

The sound of the front door opening made Oikawa jump, and he almost knocked a textbook off his desk. Making a mental note to study a bit later, because he did have his own finals, he stood up to go greet Iwa-chan.

 

He strutted into their living room, where Iwa-chan was removing his shoes by the door. He was clutching a bag that Oikawa assumed contained his notes and books, and set it down by the foot of the sofa.

 

"Hey," he grunted, straightening up so that Oikawa could fully observe him. His hair was more mussed up than usual, and his movements more heavy than normal, but the most prominent sign that, yes, he was definitely pushing himself too much, was the dark bags underneath his reddened eyes.

 

~

 

"You look like shit, Iwa-chan," Oikawa said in a sing-song voice, sharp eyes focused on Iwaizumi. 

 

Iwaizumi scowled at him. "Shut up, Shittykawa," he said in response, but his words didn't carry their usual bite. Exhaustion ate at him; vaguely, he wished that the day could be thirty hours long so that he would get an extra six hours of sleep each night without cutting back on his studies.

 

"You know, research has shown that intense sleep deprivation can harm long-term memory and decision making, not to mention that it can increase one's chance of mental illness," Oikawa recounted, like he was reading from a textbook. "It can even has the potential to cause hallucinations, if the sleep deprivation goes on for a long enough time."

 

"I know, dumbass." Iwaizumi glared at Oikawa, which definitely carried bite. "I taught you that."

 

"Wow, Iwa-chan, you remembered for once~". He yelped when Iwaizumi raised a fist at him, and cowered away. "Okay! You don't have to resort to violence!"

 

"Yeah," Iwaizumi gritted out, "Sure."

 

Oikawa pouted, which would have made Iwaizumi think he looked almost cute if he didn't know the idiot for more than twelve years, and wasn't used to his every facial expression he pulled. "Did you know it's also bad to leave your head hanging at awkward angles when you sleep?"

 

Iwaizumi scowled, because he knew exactly what Oikawa was referring to. "I'm fine," he said shortly, even though his neck kind of ached at the spot were it was bent badly.

 

Oikawa looked skeptical. "Are you?"

 

"Yes," Iwaizumi pressed. "I am. It's not like you don't stay up studying when you have a huge test the next day, so don't talk."

 

"There is a difference between going to bed late on one night, and going to bed at four-thirty in the morning every day for a week." Oikawa stood with his arms crossed and hips cocked- meaning that he wasn't pleased and was going to be stubborn.

 

"I can take care of myself, Oikawa," Iwaizumi grumbled, his voice losing most of it's irritation. He wasn't in the state of mind for a back and forth with Oikawa; right now, he wanted to pass out and nap for thirty years. Right now, he was going to dive into a stack of notes for Cell Biology.

 

"Take a break, Iwa-chan," Oikawa whined, "We can see if there are any good movies on."

 

"I can't." He grabbed his bag and made to walk back to his room, only stopping because Oikawa was using pleading, sincere eyes, a tactic he only ever used with Iwaizumi. He stopped by Oikawa and flicked him on the forehead, hard enough that Oikawa yelped again (though this time, it was mostly Oikawa's dramatics). "You have shitty movie taste, anyways."

 

" _Iwa-chan."_

 

"You have to study, too." Iwaizumi glanced at Oikawa, and felt some of his resolve wilt in his fingers. "Fine," he sighed, "But after. During dinner. I have a lot to do, idiot."

 

" _Mean_ ," Oikawa huffed like a toddler. "But fine."

 

Iwaizumi laughed at that, and wondered if his sleep deprivation really _was_ messing with his emotions, because he did _not_ just feel a surge of affection directed towards Oikawa's dumb, pouty face. 

 

Although, he could easily admit that watching a stupid sci-fi movie with Oikawa sounded much more appealing that reading about the structures of lymphocytes. For now, anyways.

 

°•°

 

Iwaizumi ended up being dragged to the movie theaters that Saturday by Oikawa, aided by Hanamaki and Matsukawa. He wouldn't have agreed if Makki and Mattsun hadn't guilt-tripped him into it, by complaining that Iwaizumi hadn't come out with them _once_ during their weekend stay in Tokyo. 

 

If Oikawa had his way, he would have dragged them all to another one of his shitty alien invasion movies, but Iwaizumi was thankfully able to avoid that ordeal when Makki insisted on seeing the eighth installment of some Western film. 

 

Halfway through the movie, Iwaizumi realized that he should have made friends with people with actual, decent taste in movies. Though this movie, that Iwaizumi couldn't bother to learn the name of, wasn't wholly bad, the loud explosions and extravagant car chase scenes weren't what Iwaizumi could classify as "quality entertainment" (Americans were weird).

 

There weren't many people in the theater. The cacophony of explosions reverberated in his skull, making his head pound, and his eyelids fluttered shut repeatedly. It took all his effort not to loudly yawn multiple times. He leaned his head on the back of the seat uncomfortably, but, inevitably, his mind swamped itself with the need to _rest_. 

 

He didn't let himself close his eyes, because, god forbid, if he did fall asleep, Makki and Mattsun would never let him hear the end of it, _and_ force him to spend more time out of his house to make up for it. Oikawa would make some annoying, teasing comment. And then find a way to tranquilize him so that he slept for the next 30 hours.

 

Still, no matter how much he willed himself to keep his eyes open and concentrate on the shouting from the film, he couldn't stop feeling like his eyelids were being pulled down by metal weights. He let out a quiet breath as he tried to move into a more accommodating position, and let his eyes close. Hopefully, just sitting with his eyes shut would recharge some of his very, very depleted energy stores (Iwaizumi was very, very desperate).

 

~

 

Oikawa, unless he had seen a movie multiple times already, always paid utmost attention to whatever film he was watching, regardless of what it was about, so he never noticed at what point during the movie Iwa-chan fell asleep. What he did notice, however, was when the seat stopped supporting Iwa-chan's neck and his head slipped down to rest on Oikawa's shoulder.

 

His first thought was, _S_ _hit._ His second thought was,  _Oh god, I'm going to have to not move for the next hour and a half of this movie._ He tried to adjust himself- while ignoring the stupid, stupid butterflies that just hatched in his stomach- to let Iwa-chan actually sleep on his shoulder, rather than just precariously balance on it, and then stilled and tried very hard to regain focus on the movie. 

 

Oikawa was suddenly very glad for the darkness of the room, and for the distraction of the movie, because he was ninety percent sure that he was blushing. He was also very aware of the warm emotion curling in his stomach, that he was also determinedly ignoring as he paid more attention to Iwa-chan's steady breathing than the movie. 

 

It was, in this strange moment, something that hit him with full force, the feeling that had been creeping up on him for the past few years. Something that had started out as a primal instinct to keep Iwa-chan, to stay by his side, even though they were going to different colleges and taking up different majors. Something that made him want to help, no, _care_ for Iwa-chan, like Iwa-chan had been caring and supporting him since they were kids. 

 

He let out a sigh. He was overthinking things, again. Makki's eyes flickered to him but turned back to the movie almost immediately; it seemed that American action movies were something that Hanamaki and Matsukawa enjoyed on a regular basis (for reasons that were beyond Oikawa. Hanamaki hated speaking English).

 

He paid no attention when his arm started tingling from being forced to stay in a single position for too long. His arm would just have to deal with it. Iwa-chan muttered quietly, and Oikawa tensed, squeezing his eyes shut. He could only imagine how awkward they would both feel when Iwa-chan woke up. They hadn't done this- falling asleep on each other- since their third year of high school. That had been three years ago. 

 

Iwa-chan and Oikawa were probably still more touchy and comfortable around each other than most best friends (except for Makki and Mattsun, but Oikawa had always suspected something about the two of them). Nevertheless, their unspoken agreement to act less like they were still high-schoolers was mutual, albeit a little strange after so many years of habit. He hoped that Iwa-chan wouldn't tell him that Oikawa should have woken him up as soon as his head hit Oikawa's shoulder- he didn't think that he could bear that. 

 

Without Oikawa's attention on it, the movie came to an end, all too soon. The theater was lightening, his eyes were upset with the sudden adjustment, and he felt a flash of panic, because, _Shit, Makki and Mattsun are going to see us!_ He almost jumped up, and then realized that it would probably make Iwaizumi hit his head on Oikawa's shoulders very painfully, so he just stiffened and braced himself for whatever his friends had to say of him.

 

Makki stretched and sent a lazy smile to Mattsun. "That was good," he commented.

 

"Completely worth our money," Matsukawa agreed. 

 

Oikawa completely  _disagreed,_ but he was unwilling to open his mouth in that moment. As soon as they got in the car, with Iwa-chan awake and off his shoulder, then he would complain about it as much as he pleased. 

 

"So, Oikawa," Matsukawa said, and Oikawa froze for the third time that night. "How'd you find the American film? Was it not amazing?" He turned to Oikawa, and then his eyes caught Iwaizumi leaned against him. Without subtlety, he nudged Makki and nodded in their direction.

 

Makki also turned, and Oikawa cursed them both.

 

"Well," Makki said casually.

 

"Fuck off," Oikawa muttered, still sitting stiffly with his body faced towards the front of the room.

 

"I can't say that I didn't expect it coming," Mattsun said, an obnoxious smile growing on his face.

 

"I'm going to murder you both in your sleep," Oikawa threatened, "Also, be quiet."

 

"Someone's been spending too much time annoying his, ahem, best friend." Mattsun smirked widely. 

 

"We were just referring to the fact that Iwaizumi has looked exhausted the entire day." Makki put his hand to his chest, mock offended. "What did you think we were saying?" 

 

"You're going to wake him up," Oikawa grumbled. 

 

"He needs to wake up, anyway," Makki pointed out, rather unnecessarily, in Oikawa's opinion. 

 

"But, hey." Mattsun grabbed Hanamaki's arm and tugged him up hastily. After a moment of stumbling, they stood up straight and turned to the direction away from Iwaizumi and Oikawa, most likely so that they could walk away without having to navigate themselves around Iwaizumi's legs. "We'll leave give you two some space. Have fun, you crazy kids."

 

'You crazy kid' was probably the single worst way that Oikawa had ever heard himself be referred to as, and he let that disgust show on his face, as Makki and Mattsun strolled away with matching, shit-eating grins. Oh, they thought they were so clever.

 

Oikawa his head turned back to Iwa-chan and swallowed. Iwa-chan looked peaceful like this, the dark marks under his eyes barely visible. Oikawa thought it was a good look on him, and then immediately erased the thought from his mind. He felt like Makki and Mattsun were watching him from the corners of the theater (although he knew that they weren't. They weren't that mean.).

 

"Iwa-chan," he whispered, "Wake up. Wakey-wakey. Rise and shine." He nudged Iwa-chan, who let out a soft groan and darted out a tongue to swipe it over his lips, _fuck_. " _Iwa-chan._  Iwaizumi-san. _Hajime_." 

 

Iwa-chan grumbled and his eyes fluttered open. That's when Oikawa realized, shit, their faces were just inches away from each other. It seemed that Iwa-chan realized this, too,  because his eyes widened and he jumped back, almost hitting the armrest. 

 

Oikawa smiled weakly.

 

~

 

"Um," Iwaizumi said intelligently. The last thing he remembered was some guy holding up a gun in the movie, and after that, he assumed that he fell asleep. He did not give permission to waking up on Oikawa's shoulder, with Oikawa's face about five inches away from his face and looking annoyingly gorgeous in the cool light of the movie credits. 

 

 _Gorgeous._ Since when had that become a word that Iwaizumi used to describe Oikawa?

 

"You fell asleep," Oikawa supplied, and  _was he blushing?_ He couldn't be. Oikawa didn't get flustered easily. And yet, the pink dusting his face was clearly there, for reasons beyond Iwaizumi.

 

"I know that, dumbass!" Iwaizumi snapped, his own face warming uncomfortably. "I fell asleep on the _seat_!"

 

"And then your head slipped down onto my shoulder!" Oikawa huffed, though the patches of colour on his cheeks glowed redder. "I'm not _lying_!" He looked offended, almost hurt, and Iwaizumi realized that it was probably irrational to get irritated at Oikawa for something he hadn't done. All things considered, it was probably Iwaizumi who, _unintentionally_ , slipped his head down onto Oikawa's shoulder.

 

"Well, you could have woken me!" Iwaizumi said, and to his horror, Oikawa flinched. Something hard settled in his stomach, as he stared at Oikawa who was looking more and more embarrassed by the second. 

 

"I couldn't have done that!" Oikawa exclaimed. Iwaizumi was glad that the theater was almost empty, with no one else to hear them speak. "Besides," he added, and Oikawa's demeanor suddenly shifted, his expression determined. "You deserve to sleep, you're tired. It wasn't a big _problem_."

 

"It's a problem if I'm making you uncomfortable," Iwaizumi said.

 

Oikawa blinked, like he didn't understand what Iwaizumi had just said. "You're so stupid, Iwa-chan."

 

"What?" 

 

"Let's go, Makki and Mattsun are waiting." Oikawa stood up and stuffed his hands in his coat pocket (why he had to wear a nice coat to a dark theater, Iwaizumi didn't know). Iwaizumi stood up, glaring at Oikawa suspiciously. He let himself be shooed outside of the theater, blinking as his eyes adjusted to the brighter lights.

 

"Took you long enough," Hanamaki complained. 

 

Matsukawa gave Oikawa and Iwaizumi a knowing look, and Iwaizumi felt himself blush.

 

"Let's go," Iwaizumi muttered. Oikawa nodded enthusiastically. 

 

Their group split up at the metro station, Makki and Mattsun heading back to their hotel closer to the city center, and Oikawa and Iwaizumi back to their apartment near their respective universities. Throughout the entire ride in the metro, Oikawa stared contemplatively off into space, not bothering to make conversation with Iwaizumi. If this was one of Oikawa's usual thoughtful moods, Iwaizumi would give him half a day before asking what's up. 

 

When they arrived at their apartment, Oikawa flopped down on their couch and squinted at the blank TV screen, as if he was debating something in his complicated head. Iwaizumi watched him for a moment, then decided that he wasn't going to do anything stupid or self-destructive, and slipped his shoes off at the door. He thought of reading through his statistics notes, maybe practicing a little bit. The thought of that felt like someone was dragging his willpower through thick, wet mud.

 

"I'll be in my room," he told Oikawa, who hummed in reply. Before he could walk down the hall to his room, however, Oikawa spoke up.

 

"Iwa-chan?"

 

"What?" he answered.

 

"You do know that I actually do worry about you sometimes, right?" Oikawa kept on watching the dark TV, body turned away, so Iwaizumi couldn't gauge his expression. 

 

 When Oikawa finally turned around, his eyes were serious. "I know for a fact that you didn't go to bed until five in the morning, last night."

 

"So?" Iwaizumi said defensively.

 

"Can't you take a nap? Or rest? You managed to fall asleep in a movie full of explosions, Iwa-chan, don't tell me that you aren't half dead with sleep." Oikawa glared at Iwaizumi, who felt that the situation was not nearly as grave as Oikawa made it out to be. Or, well, it was grave for him, since it seemed like he was going to be _failing his exams_ , but that wasn't so _unexpected_.

 

"You're thinking something stupid again," Oikawa said suspiciously. 

 

"Give it a rest, Oikawa," Iwaizumi sighed, "I don't have much of a choice, do you _know_ how detailed my coursework is?"

 

"You know who needs a rest?" Oikawa retorted, standing up. In a few long strides, he walked over to Iwaizumi (damn his long legs) and peered at him with a stubborn light in his eyes. "You do. Go to bed."

 

"I _can't_."

 

"You _have to_." Oikawa was leaning closer and closer into Iwaizumi's personal space, as Iwaizumi leaned farther and farther away from him. "You'll pass out and die, Iwa-chan. If you fall asleep while walking down the stairs, I won't save you."

 

"That's ridiculous," Iwaizumi huffed.

 

" _You're_ ridiculous." Oikawa narrowed his eyes. "Have I stayed up until five a.m?"

 

"It's not like you've never done it before," Iwaizumi scoffed.

 

"I'm going to fight you, Iwa-chan. I will force you to bed."

 

"I'm stronger than you." Iwaizumi felt the need to point that out.

 

Oikawa scowled, which drew a snort out of Iwaizumi. "That's not true. I'm taller."

 

"Oi!"

 

"Plus," Oikawa added, straightening up and raising a finger, as if he was some wise spiritual teacher, about to bestow his wisdom upon Iwaizumi. "I have my powers of charm and persuasion."

 

"You wish, Trashkawa." Iwaizumi rolled his eyes, but he could only wish that he could stop himself from smiling, just a little bit. Oikawa's so called powers of "charm and persuasion" had little effect over him; he had long since grown used to Oikawa's antics.

 

" _Iwa-chan_."

 

"If you're method of persuasion is whining, I'm very concerned for everyone who has ever fallen for it." Iwaizumi raised an eyebrow at OIkawa, who grinned.

 

"So you admit that I am great at persuasion!"

 

"No," Iwaizumi said baldly. "You're distracting me. I have to go."

 

Oikawa blinked. "Fine."

 

Iwaizumi blinked in return. That was too sudden. Oikawa wouldn't give in that easily, not after so much whining and arguing. Iwaizumi would have suspected that Oikawa was plotting something even if he hadn't relented so quickly (he had a calculating spark in his gaze that made Iwaizumi gulp).

 

"Fine," Iwaizumi replied slowly.

 

Oikawa smiled sweetly, flapping his hands in front of him in a 'shoo' motion. "Go on, Iwa-chan. You need to continue you studies!"

 

"I'm going to murder you," Iwaizumi threatened, but he walked away all the same. His room was a mess of scattered textbook and notes- there were even a few stray sheets of paper on the floor, which someone (Oikawa) would eventually slip on. He snatched up the crumpled shirt and sweatpants that laid on his bed and changed his clothes, preferring to study in a more comfortable attire. 

 

He settled down on his bed, kicking away his wrinkled blanket, and grabbed the nearest textbook- _A Study in Statistics._ Iwaizumi racked his brain for a topic that he needed to review, because he knew that there were many. HIs memory failed him, however, so he just flipped it open to a page in the 300s and started reading from the first sentence fragment.

 

An obnoxious, rhythmic knock came at the door. "Iwa- _chan_. Are you decent?"

 

"What's it to you?" Iwaizumi called back. 

 

He heard Oikawa huff from the other side of the door. "It's important, Iwa-chan! What if there was a fire out here?"

 

"Then you would run screaming to the door, not stand around asking if I'm wearing clothes," Iwaizumi said, "You can come in, but you shouldn't."

 

The doorknob twisted. Oikawa pushed through the door, gaze sweeping the whole room. He had changed into a pale sweater that fell down to expose parts of his pale skin and collarbones. "You're so rude, Iwa-chan," he said lightly, "God, your room's a mess."

 

"I know for a fact that yours isn't any better."

 

"That's _not_ true," Oikawa sniffed, "My books are all in perfect alphabetical order."

 

"Don't tell me that you haven't been stressing about your exams, too." Iwaizumi stared at Oikawa, keeping his book open in front of him. "Don't think that you've fooled me. Your major isn't."

 

Oikawa twirled his hand in the air. "I manage to get by."

 

"That may be true," Iwaizumi said. Oikawa was good at his classes- business was, apparently, something that came naturally to him. Iwaizumi envied that. Maybe if he had chosen something more doable, like Japanese Literature or History, he could pass. At least, he would finish his schooling roughly aorund the time that his friends would. But no, he had to choose the most impossible path.

 

"Anyways, Iwa-chan, you're not going to get a chance to nag me right now," Oikawa sang, practically prancing over to the bed. "Sometimes, you have to use cunning to get what you want, did you know that?"

 

"What have you been talking about?" Iwaizumi asked, "Are you on some drugs?"

 

Oikawa smiled sweetly and reached for Iwaizumi. Before Iwaizumi realized what he was trying to do, he had snatched the textbook and tossed it to the side. Oikawa climbed onto his bed and grabbed Iwaizumi's wrist, stopping him from reaching for the book again.

 

"Resistence is futile, Iwa-chan!"

 

"Stop making this sound like one of your stupid alien abduction movies, Shittykawa," Iwaizumi snapped, "What are you _doing_?"

 

"I'm forcing you to sleep!" Oikawa scooted to Iwaizumi's side and wrapped his arms around him, effectively pinning Iwaizumi to the bed.

 

"Oi!" 

 

"Let me take care of you, Iwa-chan!" Oikawa whined, snuggling up to him by slipping his arms down to Iwaizumi'a waist. "Besides, I'm tired, too!"

 

"Like that's my fault?" Iwaizumi struggled, fruitlessly, to get out of Oikawa's grip, but he was like a desperately clingy octopus. His side was getting increasingly warmer- Oikawa had always been a sort of human furnace.

 

"It is!" Oikawa rested his head on Iwaizumi's shoulder, like he did when they were kids. "I can't sleep properly with your room's light on!"

 

Iwaizumi scoffed, but, come to think about it, Oikawa did always need it to be pitch black before he could fall asleep. A bit of guilt stabbed at him. "Sorry. You should have told me, idiot, I would have turned off the light!"

 

"Well, make it up to me." Oikawa's pink lips curved up into a smile. Iwaizumi swallowed, because he was far too close, and if Iwaizumi turned his head a few degrees to the right, his lips would brush against Oikawa's cheek, or mouth. 

 

"At least let me move into a comfortable position, dumbass," Iwaizumi grumbled. Oikawa seemed to find logic in that statement, not relenting but tugging Iwaizumi down to the mattress to rest his head. Oikawa disregarded the pillows that he could have settled his head on, and was comfortable with just leaning his head on Iwaizumi's collarbone, an arm thrown across Iwaizumi's chest and a leg hooked around Iwaizumi's hips. 

 

Iwaizumi had little choice but to keep his own arm around Oikawa, who seemed all too comfortable to drape himself over Iwaizumi and fall asleep. Well, he wasn't asleep, yet, but his eyes were closed and he definitely wasn't just acting like he wanted to sleep. Why he had to do it on Iwaizumi was the real question.

 

"Stop thinking, Iwa-chan, you'll hurt yourself," Oikawa complained. 

 

"I'm going to murder you when we wake up," Iwaizumi told him quietly. 

 

Oikawa hummed and buried his nose in Iwaizumi's shirt fabric. Iwaizumi could freak out all he wanted about their close proximity, but the harsh reality was that Oikawa was one hell of a cuddler. He was warm and sleepy, and Iwaizumi was exhausted and mentally drained, so who would blame him for holding Oikawa closer and letting himself submerge into sleep?

 

When he woke up, at 3 in the morning, with his legs tangled with Oikawa's and his shirt spotted with Oikawa's spit (although Oikawa swore that he wouldn't drool in his sleep), he thought that it was probably the best sleep he'd had in the past few months. 

 

°•°

 

 "Iwa- _chan_."

 

Oikawa appeared at the entrance to Iwaizumi's room, squinting against the yellowish light and glaring at Iwaizumi. "When are you going to _bed_?"

 

"After," Iwaizumi said, absent-mindedly. He turned a page in his notebook, blinking the beginning traces of weariness out of his eyes. "I have to do this, Oikawa, my exam is in five days."

 

"So?" Oikawa grumped. He wandered into the room, scanning the bed and shelves like he did the day they fell asleep together. Just the memory of that made Iwaizumi's face warm up, because the entire event should not have felt as intimate as it did. Maybe that was the sleep deprivation still talking.

 

"Did you finish studying?" Iwaizumi asked. Oikawa had amped up his own 'scanning through textbooks and notes' in the past week, as his finals approached with a fairly quick.

 

"Yep. Studying is so boring, honestly." Oikawa rolled his eyes. "I wish I could just pass everything without having to 'review'."

 

"Lazy," Iwaizumi said.

 

"Excuse me!" He sounded like himself, but the dramatics in his usual tone mostly faded away in the presence of sleepiness. He'd been staying up more often, not as late as Iwaizumi, but until midnight at _least_. Nobody could argue that Oikawa wasn't a good student, especially since he was managing his studies with being a starting player and vice-captain of his university's volleyball team. All Iwaizumi had was studying, and he was running himself into the ground.

 

"Go to bed, dumbass, it's late," Iwaizumi told him, "If you pass out, I'm not carrying you to bed."

 

"You're such a hypocrite. You're more likely to pass out than I am." Oikawa gave him a disdainful look, which Iwaizumi did not appreciate. 

 

"I'm not the one who'll whine about the bags under their eyes for the next two weeks, Trashkawa. Go to bed." Iwaizumi stressed the last syllable of his sentence, thoroughly exasperated.

 

"Don't boss me around, Iwa-chan, you're so rude," Oikawa said, crossing his arms. "I'm going to bed, but because I'm tired. _Not_ because you told me to."

 

"Oh, trust me, I know," Iwaizumi said dryly. Oikawa never did anything unless he wanted to, and there was no point in trying to get him to do otherwise. 

 

"G'night." Oikawa's words were punctuated with a yawn. "Don't stay up too late."

 

"Are you my mom, Oikawa?" Iwaizumi asked irritably, glowering at Oikawa, who put his hands up in a surrendering pose. 

 

"Okay, okay." Oikawa slipped out of the room,shutting the bedroom door close behind him, leaving Iwaizumi to continue studying in peace.

 

It was always too quiet after Oikawa left.

 

Nevertheless, Iwaizumi felt like he could continue studying for a few more hours, at least. He had taken to hour-long naps after he returned from his classes- occasionally, Oikawa joined him, never as close as they got on that Saturday after the movies, but near enough that Iwaizumi could detect Oikawa's weight on the other side of the mattress. It was a comfortable development in their relationship, even if it left Iwaizumi's stomach feeling a bit loopy in the aftermath. Those naps allowed him to focus a bit better without wanting to drop dead every five minutes, so really, there were no downsides. 

 

He continued reading through his notes, familiar with the material, every so often feeling an "aha!" of remembrance when he came across a tiny point scribbled in the margins about a very specific technicality. 

 

It didn't seem like long before there was a tap at his door, and his head shot up from his reading to catch sight of his clock, that read " _1:48 a.m_ ". Iwaizumi dropped his gaze back to the notebook- Oikawa could let himself in, there were no locks on that door.

 

Sure enough, it slid open within seconds, and soft footsteps entered the room. The bed creaked as Oikawa moved onto it, and Iwaizumi jumped when warm hands slid around his neck and down, so that Oikawa was hugging him from behind while hooking his chin over Iwaizumi's shoulder. There was no warm, fluttery feelings in his stomach, Iwaizumi told himself.

 

"Iwa-chan," Oikawa complained, pressing his head forward- shit, Iwaizumi was so screwed- into Iwaizumi's neck, soft hair brushing against his skin. "I can't sleep."

 

"I'm sorry," Iwaizumi apologized, because he knew full well that OIkawa was a light sleeper on most days, and his shuffling around disturbed OIkawa's rest. "I have to finish this. I need to do well, you know, not _all_ of us are so smart." He had meant the last part as a joke, but Oikawa noticeably tensed, tightening his grip around Iwaizumi.

 

"You know, I don't know where you got this idea," Oikawa murmured softly, turning his head so that he was properly resting against Iwaizumi. "That you aren't that smart. You've been working too hard to not do well on your exams, but you're going to be too tired to think if you stay up until four in the morning."

 

"Oikawa-"

 

"Nope, no arguments. I'm too tired to argue." Oikawa pushed his face into Iwaizumi's scapula, trying to prevent a yawn, but all it did was make Oikawa's mouth graze against his shoulder, which made Iwaizumi's heart feel like it was sprinting in his chest. "Come to _bed_."

 

Iwaizumi didn't miss the difference in meaning between "go to bed" and "come to bed", but he ignored it (he seemed to be doing that a lot, lately), and turned around, displacing Oikawa off his shoulder. Oikawa straightened up with a noise of protest.

 

"You aren't going to let this go, are you?" Iwaizumi asked. 

 

Oikawa shook his head, looking as determined as anyone could at about two in the morning when they had been jolted awake a few hours too early. Iwaizumi really didn't want to keep him up, especially since he knew that Oikawa would try to stay up to convince him to stop studying and go to bed. Plus, the prospect of sleeping (possibly with Oikawa) was tempting.

 

"Fine," Iwaizumi sighed.

 

Oikawa cracked a smile of victory that looked somewhat relieved. He loosely grasped Iwaizumi's wrist, tugging, and Iwaizumi complied, letting Oikawa pull him off the bed and into a standing position. Oikawa hit the lights off as he guided Iwaizumi out of his room- just as well, because Iwaizumi's bed was covered in papers and books- and across the hall into his own.

 

The blue blankets were tangled up at the foot of the bed, and the sheets were crumped. It looked very slept in. Oikawa laid down on it heavily, pulling Iwaizumi in after him, so that Iwaizumi's knees hit the mattress and made the springs groan. 

 

"Careful, idiot, or I'll fall on you," Iwaizumi said under his breath. Oikawa merely hummed and gestured for Iwaizumi to lie down, which Iwaizumi was all but happy to oblige to. 

 

Oikawa let Iwaizumi arrange himself into a good position before curling himself around him, letting their legs tangle together and resting a hand over Iwaizumi's chest. Almost subconciously (but not quite), Iwaizumi reached up to grasp Oikawa's hand in his own, letting his own thumb run across Oikawa's knuckles. Since he had stopped playing volleyball, after his first year of university, his hands had become softer than Oikawa's, something that he still hadn't gotten quite used to. 

 

"Iwa-chan?" came Oikawa's voice, sleepy but tentative, hyper-aware as always.

 

"Yeah?" Iwaizumi's voice came out rougher than intended, as he turned his head to look at Oikawa. When he did, their faces rested a mere five inches away from each other, so near that Iwaizumi could feel the tremors in Oikawa's exhales. "Oikawa?"

 

They gazed at each other for what felt like a long while, both of them keeping their thoughts to their own- Iwaizumi was hesitant, tense, and Oikawa was contemplative, thoughtful- but on the same wavelength. It was like when they were on the court, together, in high school, and they would make eye contact, determined and furious, Iwaizumi asking for the chance and Oikawa doing his best to deliver.

 

Iwaizumi blinked, and Oikawa's lips were pressed against his, warm and tender and insistent, his fingertips so gently framing Iwaizumi's face that Iwaizumi felt like he could be made of delicate glass. And Iwaizumi was pressing back, and it was only the smallest amount of pressure, really, but to the both of them, it meant the world. 

 

Oikawa slid his head back, pulling away gently, still closer than ever before, eyes liquid and shining in the dark, and they both had such soft, happy smiles on their faces that even the harshest cynic could melt at the sight. They had their fingers tangled together, and colour dusting their cheeks (though they couldn't really see it, in the lack of light). Iwaizumi wanted to speak up, to discuss what everything meant, but he also wanted to lay there in silence, engraving the moment into his memory, the quietude, their steady breaths, the fiery feeling in his chest. 

 

 _Things will change_ , Iwaizumi thought absently, the weight of their intertwined hands on his chest, but he had a feeling they would change for better. 

 

He'd pass his final exams, he had to. He had no choice in the matter, and would still study his ass off in preparation, but getting sleep every night couldn't be that bad. Not if sleep every night was like _this_. 

 

It was the best rest he'd ever had in his life, mind at peace despite his joyously racing heart, lulled to sleep by the sound of Oikawa's quiet, even breathing. The past weeks' panic subsided, if only a bit: possibly, he would be just fine.

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this during my two weeks of heavy testing, mostly late at night, and in hindsight, I projected a lot. Apologies. It also ended up being much longer than I was aiming for, because I have no gauge of word count and I wrote it directly on AO3 so I couldn't find a word count ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
> 
> ~
> 
> If there are any mistakes, typos, grammatical errors, please let me know!


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